Good News / Bad News Concerning US VISIT

By Bill West

The Department of Homeland Security will reportedly be issuing regulations requiring commercial airlines and cruise lines to begin collecting the biometric identifiers, notably digital fingerprints and photographs, of foreign travelers as they depart the United States. This is an effort to make the departure control half of the US VISIT border information gathering and analysis system work. This departure control segment has been lagging in development for years, and Congress has mandated its completion by June of 2009 before any new countries can join the controversial Visa Waiver Program, the benefits of which are currently bestowed upon some 27 countries.

Already, representatives of the airline industry are crying foul, saying placing this responsibility on them will lead to major costs and they do not know how they will be able to make it work. Further, the airlines are claiming this is really a governmental responsibility and not something private industry should be doing. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff responded by saying if US VISIT departure control does not come into being by the June 2009 deadline it will be because the airline industry “killed it.”

This is shaping up to be a major battle between the airline industry and DHS. As has been noted in this Blog numerous times over the years, failure to implement US VISIT departure control has left a significant element of our border and immigration security apparatus undone. This failure has gone on for some four years.

When foreign nationals with visas enter the United States they are inspected by Officers of DHS’ Customs and Border Protection (CBP), who take their digital fingerprints and photographs and enter those into the US VISIT system. That task is accomplished at the Federal Inspection Area of airports and seaports where there is infrastructure such as inspections booths, computers and interview rooms where the processing can occur. Obviously, collecting digital fingerprints and photographs from departing foreign nationals will require notable logistical and manpower considerations, and will not be cheap. It should be noted the US VISIT system, at least the entry part of it, was implemented within a couple years of the 9/11 attacks. This is not something “new.” The resolution of the question about this being a primary Government or private enterprise responsibility will be one to watch.

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